


Past the Fairy Tale

by Verona_mira



Category: Cinderella Phenomenon (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Secret Santa, Secret Santa 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:00:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28326459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verona_mira/pseuds/Verona_mira
Summary: When the fairy tale is over, the work beginns.
Relationships: Lucette Riella Britton/Karma
Kudos: 9
Collections: Cinderella Phenomenon Secret Santa 2020 Edition





	Past the Fairy Tale

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DistractedDaydreamer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DistractedDaydreamer/gifts).



> A Secret Santa Story for "DistractedDayDreaymer" from the CinderellaPhenomenon Discord Server.

They had all deserved better, she thought, looking out of the window in her bedroom.

As a child it had been hard to see for Lucette that there was something wrong with her mother, not only because her mother had kept erasing her memories.

Waltz deserved his family, Karma deserved not being torn between his love and his own kingdom, her father deserved to live without the wounds her mother caused, Fritz deserved to be  _ alive-! _

Taking a deep breath Lucette forced herself to abort that line of thought. It had haunted her mind often enough already.

It was strange how everything had ended up bittersweet in the end when the first wave of euphoria passed.

The fairytale had ended. Curses had broken, the princess got her prince (and the other way round), the villains were slain.

After the story ends, reality settles in.

And just like today they were busy forging the end into something real.

"What are you thinking about?"

The smile was pulling her mouth up before she could even realize it and she leaned back into the warm chest, welcoming the even breathing to distract her from her previous line of thought.

"Nothing specific," she said quietly. "Reality and the present time."

Karma hugged her, holding her close and she enjoyed the way his warmth embraced her, a strong difference to how she had missed him during his absence after breaking his curse. "Was anything new achieved during the talks?"

He didn't answer and Lucette sighed.

When he had returned, he hadn't returned alone. Just found that his family had been unwilling to let him out of sight and unsupervised. With his previously unfavourable reputation, his long disappearance and the situation between her and him it wasn't really surprising.

There had been a small delegation of knights with him- and his father, set on getting a rundown of what exactly happened and what was planned for the future.

"It is pretty sure that I'm going to let go of my crown prince duties," her prince finally said. "The curse struck a few times at home before I figured out what was going on and more than enough rumours spread that my standing isn't really good in some circles."

"The local court will be pleased then," she replied. "As happy as they were about the possible influence on another royal family, they really didn't want Rod or Emelaigne on the throne."

While the servants loved her step siblings and Lucette was tentatively getting along with them, the nobles hadn't been happy about the royal bloodline leaving the country and all the distant relatives to it getting practically cut off from the line of succession, no matter how distant.

"Well, I guess they'll stay quieter than some of the less polite nobles at home then," his chuckle was sounding a bit forced and she chose not to call him out on that.

"Mother never let me interact much with other nobles, so there are no relations there worth mentioning to push at me as alternatives. And they may be wary about pushing me too hard, as they still remember mother quite vividly. Father also decided to put down lines about what they are allowed to do. Alcaster had some allies after all and Mythros being a witch and no one knowing didn't sit well with him either." She replied calmly, "And they like the connections it gives us. Mother ruined the relations with the other countries as well after all."

"They were quite happy about that at home as well. Father still doesn't quite trust me to have moved on from my past behaviour, but I guess he assumes you'll keep me in line anyway," Karma admitted.

Raising a brow at him, Lucette let go and stepped away a bit, looking him over. "Well, you  _ are _ easy on the eye. So you're definitely acceptable to stand around and look pretty."

Her teasing fell flat, as he visibly preened, sunning himself in the praise. Sighing, she gave up on that avenue. "Get out," she said. "I'll need to change into something else for sword practice."

"Right!" He clicked his fingers, smiling brightly. "I wanted to ask you about that one, but you were so pretty yourself that I forgot."

"Charmer. Go on," Lucette laughed, swatting at him, heart lighter than before the conversation.

-oOo-

It had been a bit strange, sparring with other people than Jurien, Garlan and Karma at the beginning. Lucette had gotten used to it and the knights had gotten used to her using a sword. Rod's tutor had gotten over himself as well after some reluctance at the beginning, teaching her just like he would another student until Karma returned to Angielle.

For all that Rod was a good dancer, it was quite surprising how often he managed to stumble over his own feet at a surprise strike.

Emelaigne had gotten into the habit of watching them practice whenever she could, clearly interested, but not willing to take up a blade herself. Lucette didn't blame her. Until she had gotten cursed, Fritz had always been around to protect her, even with nothing to protect her from.

The pain of him dying had lessened over time. She still dearly missed her friend though, and would have loved to practice with him.

And she wasn't the only one missing someone.

When a gong announced the full hour, she stopped practicing and looked around, finding her father quite quickly. Their relationship had improved as well. It wasn't perfect -she doubted it would ever be- but they were talking and there were no more secrets keeping them away from each other.

Her father missed what had been as well. As she was missing Fritz, he was missing what he believed to have been loyal and trusted friends to him. Both advisors had worked against him and he had been wary to assign new people to the positions after at least one of the two he had thought to know had betrayed him like that and the other one was dead and unable to explain anything to him.

He had tended to train on occasion with Alcaster before, trusting the man blindly. With that trust into the assumed best sword fighter gone, he was also training more, and it was something they had tentatively started to bond over while Karma was away.

As awkward as it had started out, it was something she didn't need to share with her step-family, giving them some common ground no one intruded in until Karma returned, flamboyant and eye-catching, requesting a match for a 'victory in her name' after another loss against her far more experienced father.

She was sure her father had been pondering letting her win a few times to be a good sport, but Karma swooping in after his return had her father thinking a lot less about that.

It was always fascinating to watch.

Her father also sometimes watched when she was practicing alone with Karma, something she favoured over the tutor, who kept trying to improve Rod's skills in that area.

And while she couldn't bring herself to join Emelaigne and Ophelia at her tea table after training, training did help her work off frustration and gave her an outlet for her energy, giving her more patience to deal with them. Her stepsister was still too social for her taste, but she was learning to deal with it and that alone seemed to relax the relationships between them all.

She used the short break between the gong sounding and the king stopping his own practice to catch her breath, before approaching the man she had only recently started to call 'father' again.

"Lucette," it was still strange how happy he looked whenever she approached him by herself, "walk with me for a bit."

"Sure," she nodded, following him away from the practice field before pointing towards the private gardens, which weren't open to visitors, one of the few places to walk and have a talk without the risk of some visitor interrupting them.

The gardens themselves were quiet and calm outside of some gardeners hurrying around.

"Are the talks with Karma's father problematic?" She finally asked. She tended to listen in when some nobles tried to complain about the pairing, trying to sell their own sons off as better matches. The talks with the other king were some of the few she wasn't allowed near yet.

"Prince Klaude told you there is trouble?" He guessed and she shook her head.

"No, just that there wasn't any progress," the girl watched as her father grimaced. "Is there trouble?"

"Not from the other party. The man seems eager to get his son pinned in a committed relationship," the king said, "Some locals tried to stir up rumours by saying things about him only getting cursed to have an excuse to approach you."

"... how? There was no way he knew I would end up cursed and near him. And even otherwise it would only have been a short meeting to break the curse and gain foreign favour." Lucette had long ago given up on trying to understand people like that. It didn't mean that it wasn't giving her a headache though.

"I know," a tight smile was directed her way. "It's nothing serious. It'll delay things a bit, but they're getting investigated for reasons about getting that connection cut off." His smile softened. "You deserve this."

He seemed to lighten up, when she smiled back slightly, fighting back the blush trying to creep onto her face, remembering warm hugs and soft kisses, forcing herself to look away from her father.

His chuckle was warm and relieved and before she could really think about it, she was pulled into a hug. In a strange way her father was more familiar than Karma, despite his hugs being far fewer in number. Not less comfortable or comforting though.

"I'm relieved, you found someone to be happy with. When your mother was around, I kept fearing you would never gain anything like this for yourself. I'm really happy you did."

Lucette wasn't sure how long the hug lasted before becoming uncomfortable, causing her to move away. They didn't speak again on their way back to the field either, the girl combing through the words spoken to her and the king happy to have been able to tell them.

Lucette still wasn't quite sure, she deserved all this, but watching Karma trying to help Rod with his footing, knowing the young man was  _ hers _ , that she had chosen him, as he had her…

It may still take some more work, but she was sure she could convince herself that her father was right and she really did deserve this.


End file.
